I am on my third week of going Primal and I lost six pounds the first two weeks. I am finishing up my third week and have gained three pounds. I have been strict on going Primal and have been following it to the dot. I eat nothing but meats , the right vegetables and fruits. I never go out to restaurants or eat out. I have fasted a little off and on as well and keep my carb maximum to around 50 if I have any at all. Any advice or conclusions ?

this one stumps me, too. if you're being that strict....?? (wish I could say the same)
or rather wish I could be very strict...and lose the lbs! I am losing slowly......all you can do is keep at it. I'm sure it will have good results soon....then again, check out the fats. If your carbs are very low, they won't matter, but otherwise they can get pretty high. I wonder sometimes if women can eat all that bacon.....help! don't hit me, grokettes!!!

Ladies~If you want to drop body fat, you need a calorie deficit. I believe this is true, unless you have a serious metabolic disorder.

How you get there may vary. You could:

• Eat lots of non-starchy veggies to fill you up and help keep a calorie deficit.
• Do Intermittent Fasting to keep an overall calorie deficit.
• Eat low carb or very low carb which will likely reduce your appetite and help you maintain a calorie deficit.
• Track your calories with FitDay and make sure you eat enough to maintain a calorie deficit.
• Build up your muscle mass through strength training to boost your metabolism and help you to maintain a calorie deficit.

It's not magic and from what I can see on this forum, everyone who has lost body fat has utilized one or all of these methods--though they may not realize it, since all of them are under the heading of Primal Blueprint.

It is important not to eat too few calories or your metabolism will down-regulate and make it harder, if not impossible to drop the body fat. A 500 calorie deficit is commonly suggested, but you may need a smaller one.

There are some folks who do need to drop dairy, or nightshades or occasionally eggs because of inflammation that stalls their fat loss.

Vitamin D sufficiency will definitely help with fat loss.

Once you reach your goal body fat, you'll probably not need to track anything and just eating Primally only when you are hungry will be sufficient to maintain. Some of us may need to maintain lower carbs so we can do this.

Sometimes I'll throw protein powder into greek yogurt (its non fat though) for a snack, or eat some cheese.
What I eat changes everyday; sometimes I think i have more fat than other times. I graze around the house: after lunch out I'll still be hungry so i might pick at some almonds, steak in the fridge, veggies and salsa, yogurt, etc.

That is truly my day today, I did actually have a cobb salad and a steak. I haven't gotten around to the artichoke yet. Not hungry. Might eat it tomorrow. Have you ever tried skipping all those snacks?

It is important not to eat too few calories or your metabolism will down-regulate and make it harder, if not impossible to drop the body fat. A 500 calorie deficit is commonly suggested, but you may need a smaller one.

Do you have any suggestions for a "GOOD" guideline to follow as far as calculating what calorie level we should be at (i.e. maint cals <minus> deficit). I have found some hugely varying suggestions for what my maintenance cals should be. On the sites that calculate your calorie level for you (including the deficit) they always always always simply say 1200, because I'm barely 5' tall.

Do you have any suggestions for a "GOOD" guideline to follow as far as calculating what calorie level we should be at (i.e. maint cals <minus> deficit). I have found some hugely varying suggestions for what my maintenance cals should be. On the sites that calculate your calorie level for you (including the deficit) they always always always simply say 1200, because I'm barely 5' tall.

THANKS!

I wish I did! There are women here much smaller than me who can eat almost twice as much...so many factors affect metabolism...

What I did was to track my foods the first week of eating Primal using FitDay. I noticed I was eating between 1300-1700 calories. I hadn't been lifting consistently for awhile, so I knew I would be burning more calories as I grew muscle and my metabolic rate went up. I also knew that I would get more active as I got more fit, so I didn't want to drop my calories too much. I looked at a couple of the equations here and 1500 just felt like a good number for me--eating vlc has make it much easier to stay at or below 1500 most days. I'm still losing, so it seems to be a good place for me--it's really a matter of trial & error...